Bloomberg News

Brian Gay Wins PGA Tour’s Humana Challenge in Three-Man Playoff

By Erik Matuszewski
January 21, 2013

Brian Gay won his first U.S. PGA
Tour title since 2009 by making a five-foot birdie putt on the
second hole of a playoff at golf’s Humana Challenge.

Gay’s winning putt came after Charles Howell III made a
bogey on the par-4 10th hole at the PGA West’s Palmer Course in
La Quinta, California. PGA Tour rookie David Lingmerth of Sweden
was eliminated on the first hole of the three-man playoff when
he hit his second shot into a water hazard.

Gay, 41, receives $1 million for his fourth PGA Tour win
and first since the 2009 St. Jude Classic. He entered the final
round six strokes off the lead and birdied nine of his first 13
holes en route to a 9-under-par 63.

“I played great on the front, just tried to stay
aggressive and shoot low,” Gay said at a news conference. “I
wasn’t watching the scoreboards, so I didn’t really know. I was
just trying to stay focused and make birdies.”

Gay, Howell and Lingmerth tied at 25-under 263 through four
rounds, one shot better than Scott Stallings and James Hahn.
Stallings entered the final round with a five-shot lead and
closed with a 70, the only player in the top 26 to fail to shoot
in the 60s. He bogeyed the par-5 18th hole with a chance to get
in the playoff.

“Coming down the stretch on the 72nd hole, you can’t make
mistakes like that,” said Stallings, who made three bogeys in
the final round after having none over the first 54 holes. “It
stinks, but it’s something that I’ll definitely learn from.”

The PGA Tour next moves to Torrey Pines in La Jolla,
California, for the $6.1 million Farmers Insurance Open, which
is scheduled for Jan. 24-27.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Matuszewski in New York at
matuszewski@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
msillup@bloomberg.net